Those who had been full of complaints immediately fell silent when they met Leng Chuanjin's gaze.
"Well, since there's nothing else, I'll leave first."
A middle - aged woman said rather disinterestedly.
With her taking the lead, the other onlookers straggled back into the banquet hall.
If she wasn't hallucinating, Xia Sanghuan could hear someone whispering.
"Making such a big fuss. I thought someone had been killed."
When almost everyone had left, Fu Zeming stepped forward.
"How did it go?"
"Quite smoothly," Xia Sanghuan replied.
"But I didn't expect it to be this smooth," Leng Chuanjin added.
"If the Xie family is covering for them, why did they flee in a hurry when they knew someone was coming?"
"Maybe they were afraid of being recognized," Fu Moning analyzed.
"Among the people who came, there must be someone they couldn't afford to meet."
"Anyway, at least we've got what we wanted," Xia Sanghuan said, subconsciously looking up at the tree where Yun Ye was hiding.
"Don't look back," Leng Chuanjin suddenly whispered urgently.
Immediately afterwards, a man's voice rang in their ears.
"Why are you all still here?"
It was Xie Qian, who had arrived late.
"Is the service in the venue not good enough?"
Fu Youqing stepped forward, blocking his view of Leng Chuanjin and Xia Sanghuan.
"It's too hot inside. We came out for some fresh air."
"Or is the Xie family's backyard off - limits to guests?"
Hearing her words, he quickly replied,
"Oh no, of course not. But it's already quite cold now. Staying out here for too long might give you a cold."
Although his tone and expression were polite, his words were clearly a hint for them to leave quickly.
"I see. Mr. Xie, you can go ahead and attend to your business. We'll leave soon."
However, Fu Youqing was even more difficult to deal with. It was harder for her to follow others' advice than to climb to the sky.
At this point, Xie Qian had no choice but to leave first. After all, offending the third young lady of the Fu family would be a great loss.
"Sure enough, there's something fishy," Fu Moning watched Xie Qian's retreating back.
"He seems a bit too eager this time."
"Or maybe this is just his true nature?"
She sneered mockingly.
"The eldest young master of the Xie family who can't achieve much. Let's discuss this after we get back. If we stay here any longer, we might expose ourselves."
At Leng Chuanjin's suggestion, everyone returned to the banquet.
"What about Yun Ye?" Xia Sanghuan asked worriedly.
"He'll find a way out. Trust his abilities."
What they needed to do next was to go through the normal process. Even if the Xie family was bold, they wouldn't dare to force them to stay.
As expected, Xie Qian kept a close eye on them for the rest of the time, making it difficult for them to even have a conversation.
Finally, the banquet ended, and they followed the crowd out.
Before leaving, Xia Sanghuan looked back at Xie Qian. He was staring at them gloomily, and she couldn't tell what he was thinking.
Meeting his gaze, she felt a shiver run down her spine.
Sister Moning was right. He really wasn't good at hiding his emotions. But that didn't mean he wasn't dangerous.
She quickly turned her head back and pretended nothing had happened, then continued to follow Leng Chuanjin out.
When they reached the car, she found that Yun Ye was already sitting in the driver's seat unharmed.
After everyone got in the car, Yun Ye started the engine and drove towards the Fu family mansion.
"So, you snatched this from those two?" Fu Moning took the document that Yun Ye had handed over.
"Yes," Xia Sanghuan sat over and started looking through it with her second sister.
"What is all this..." After looking for half a minute, Fu Moning was a bit confused.
But Xia Sanghuan's expression grew solemn. She took the document and read it carefully.
"Did Xie Qian invite the Shen family to this banquet?" Fu Zeming suddenly asked.
"Yes. I saw Shen Ruoyan on the dance floor," Fu Youqing replied.
"Could those people be avoiding the Shen family? But there's no conflict between the Shen and Xie families."
"What if it's someone from another family?"
"They don't need to hide from other small families."
As Leng Chuanjin spoke, he pulled up a photo on his phone.
"Just because there's no conflict on the surface doesn't mean there isn't one behind the scenes."
He handed the photo over. The photo showed Xie Qian and the eldest young lady of the Shen family.
The Shen family was also one of the four major families. There were three children in the family. The first two were daughters, and the last one was a son.
Although they were girls, the two eldest young ladies of the Shen family were no less capable than the two sisters of the Fu family. In particular, the eldest sister, Shen Siyuan, had overturned the rule that the family business should be inherited by the son. Now, most of the Shen family's property was in her hands.
"Where is this?" The photo was a bit blurry, making it hard to see the background.
"A bidding meeting a few days ago. Apart from those who were present at the time, no one else knew about it. But there's no such thing as a completely air - tight secret. Ling Shi and I still managed to find some clues."
"So all you have is this photo?" Fu Youqing raised an eyebrow.
"No. There's more." His slender finger swiped across the screen, and a document appeared.
"The company they acquired was forced into bankruptcy by the two of them. To be precise, Shen Siyuan was the first to bring the company to its knees. Then Xie Qian delivered the final blow. Although they finally fairly divided the company's shares through bidding, how could Shen Siyuan be willing to hand over the results of her hard work to others? Naturally, a feud was formed between them."
Fu Youqing nodded.
"But there's something I don't understand. We're all involved in some gray - area activities to some extent. Why did you take big brother to specifically investigate this matter? And do you think big brother's attempted murder is related to this?"
Hearing her words, Leng Chuanjin looked up at her. She was clearly blaming him.
His eyes were as dark as a black hole, showing no extra emotions.
Fu Youqing met his gaze and felt a chill down her back. But who was she?
She quickly adjusted her emotions and stared back defiantly.
Leng Chuanjin could tell that she was dissatisfied with him. After all, he had caused harm to her sister and big brother. It was only natural for her to be angry with him.
He suppressed the inexplicable annoyance in his heart and forced himself to calm down.
"This was Ling Shi's idea."